


Bouquet of Thorns

by snowflake_queen7



Category: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series - Jeff Kinney
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Blindness, Blood, Body Horror, Broken Promises, F/M, Flowers, Friendship, Hanahaki Disease, Heartbreak, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Love Triangles, Nightmares, One-Sided Attraction, Rodrick is not a main character sorry, Swearing, Vomiting, based off of flowerfell, greg needs a hug, headcanons, holly is a major character in this fanfic, i promise its not cliche, no incest. what the hell were you expecting?, oc mention (it's not a big deal though), someone's gonna die in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23789854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowflake_queen7/pseuds/snowflake_queen7
Summary: Two birds of a featherSay that they're always gonna stay togetherBut one's never going to let go of that wireShe says that she willBut she's just a liarOver the years, Emily (Female Greg Heffley) and Rowley's relationship have been slowly falling apart more and more. Rowley starts dating other girls, and Emily is left wondering what she did wrong to break their friendship apart. One day, she learns about the rare and mysterious hanahaki disease and becomes afraid of falling in love. What happens when she starts coughing up golden flower petals? Why is she staring at Rowley like that?Genderswap! Greg HeffleyAct One is completed!
Relationships: Greg Heffley/Rowley Jefferson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Friday

Today in science class we learned about the Hanahaki disease. It's basically an illness where the person coughs up flowers when they suffer a one sided attraction. It could be cured only when the person they like returns their feelings or gets surgery. The surgery cures them from the disease but takes the person's feeling away from them.

There are three stages.

1: The host coughs up flower petals. They're usually the color of their love interest hair or favorite color.

2: They start choking up full grown petals. Sometimes if they're unlucky enough, they start coughing up roses completed with the thorns.

3: Vomiting up a full blown bouquet of flowers. The flowers have overgrown in your lungs and can cause you to suffocate and die. At this point, it's probably too late to confess your feelings.

You must be wondering why I'm writing this down. Well number one, it's a review for a test. And number two, mom kind of forced me to write in this for homework she said if I did, she would put less pressure on me to do chores. Also, I can skip chores by writing. So I guess you win some, you lose some.

I used to think the hanahaki disease was fake, until some guy in my class vomited up a rose on his desk in 6th grade. He was rushed to the nurses office, and we've never seen that kid ever again. I was afraid of falling in love and getting it.

Mom tried to calm me down and said that getting the disease was really rare, but I don't believe her. I've looked it up and its says that only 1 in 100,000 get it. And not all of them survive. I have a deathly fear of choking and suffocating to death, so I'm not taking ANY chances with this disease. I've tried to not catch feelings for anyone since then.

Until I met Holly Hills. She's the fourth prettiest girl and our school. She was so sweet, kind, smart... I could go on and on about her. But this entry sadly isn't about her. Anyway, most of the guys in class liked her, but none of them got the disease. There was a rumor that the kid who vomited up the rose liked her. I was REALLY afraid of getting the disease, so I told her my feelings HOPING to not be rejected. She's just not into girls. I've lost my feelings for her, and now she's dating a different guy. We're only friends. I'm still a little embarrassed about the whole incident because after that, people started to know that I liked girls.

I'm in high school now and I'm still best friends with Rowley.lot of things have changed between us. We've grown apart. I'm not sure what I did wrong to him! He started... hanging out with other girls and he barley even talks to me anymore! I'm usually hanging out with Chirag and his group of losers. Not like I'm not happy about it. it's just that... I really miss him. Puberty hit him like a truck and now suddenly he has all these girls surrounding him. He's kind of cute... Wait! No! I don't like him like that! He's just a friend and I'm complimenting him!

A lot of people say that we should date, but we're just friends. Friends that barley even talk to each other. We don't act like a couple... right? We're just friends and even if one of us DID have a crush on the other, we would be to scared to tell our feeling. If I liked Rowley, I wouldn't tell him because, I'm kind of afraid of being rejected. I'm not doing it again. Not after what happened.

It's kind of awkward tryin to talk to him because a lot of other girls stare at him... Why can't he pay attention to ME? I miss it when we hung out together. I'M his best friend. WE have the most in common. I've been friends with him the longest and not those girls. And not those other girls who flirt with him. Whenever I go to his house, he always invites another guy over to play video games with him. He says that he wants to introduce me to his friends but I'm not taking it. I don't really get along with them because they're always taking up his attention.


	2. A guy that I'd kinda be into

Saturday

I should probably introduce myself just in case I get famous around the world and they want to know how great of a person I am. Ok now, this is a JOURNAL not a diary. yes I know it says it on the cover but when I asked mom to go out and buy me one of these, she decided to get one that says that. I wanted a blank one so I could walk write in this without anyone knowing that I have one of these things. Now I'm at risk of somebody at my school finding this and making fun of me for writing. And that's the last thing I want for myself. My reputation is already damaged enough, and I don't need one more person making fun of me.

Anyway, my name is Emily. Emily Heffley. I go to Waterfall Prep School with my best friend Rowley. Hmm... I like singing which I am VERY good at, and video games, and sleeping in. I'm also, one of the only girls in the Heffley household.

I wish I could play video games more, but my mom always makes me do chores around the house and never makes my younger or older brother do them. They're always upstairs in their room playing video games or whatever... Whenever they're supposed to be helping me with the chores, but never do it! speaking of them...

I have a little brother named Manny, and an older brother named Rodrick. There's also my mom and dad. And also a lot of little cousins and aunts and uncles. My cousins are either way to old, or their like, babies. The only other cousin that's MY age is some jerk that thinks he's better than all of us. We don't hang out like we used to.

Rodrick's usually trying to set up a gig for his band, but he's not getting anywhere. He has a lot of girls surrounding him at school, just like how Rowley is. Almost every week, he brings a new girl home. I can't remember their names because they don't really talk to me. Mom and dad don't really appreciate it. They said that he should focus on his grades more. I don't blame them. He got a drum set for Christmas and he's been playing with it ever since. It drives my dad absolutely insane. I don't really care. It actually sounds pretty good.

My little brother Manny is SO annoying. All he does is sit around and play games on the computer. That's all he does. And he cries when he doesn't get his way. He stays in his room all day demanding stuff and getting it. He doesn't even work for it. That's how spoiled he is. Now, he acts like one of those little brats on a kid beauty pageants. Except he's not in one. And he's really ugly. He really doesn't have any personality except that he's really, REALLY spoiled.

My mom forces me and Rodrick to get along, because we fight about the stupidest things. I think he usually starts those fights because he really never gets any attention from mom or dad. She also lectures him and Manny about teaming up on me to play pranks. It's usually something stupid like waking me up in the middle of the night, and telling me that it's Monday and I need to get ready for school, or stealing all my shampoo bottles and- other... girly stuff. It's really annoying. I think I've gotten them back like once, but mom busted me. She grounds ME for not being a "good example" To my brothers. I don't care! MANNY already looks up to Rodrick, and Rodricks usually doing his own thing. It's not easy being one of the only girls in this house.

I'll write more about my family later. I just got a text from Rowley asking me if I could sleep over at his house. His parents aren't home. So, I obviously said yes. Why wouldn't I? He's my best friend and I would do ANYTHING for him.

Ok, Ok, I'll spit it out... I... really, REALLY wish that he liked me, the same way I like him... but I don't think he would be interested in someone like me. I've liked him for his long now? A few weeks... I think? It's been a few weeks of liking him and not getting that stupid hanahaki disease! Maybe, if I don't think about it, I won't get it! It's still pretty terrifying to know you can catch it any time you have a crush on someone...

Even though I like him, I'm not even surprised if he decided to go after our neighbor, Trisha. She's popular, pretty nice, someone I could never be. Then again.. she is way older than both of us, and she's usually busy babysitting other kids so we usually don't have time to hang out with each other. Not that we hang out that much...Even though I kind of wish we did. She DID abandon both of us for that lifeguard back in the country club. 

Anyway, at least it's just gonna be me, and him without any distractions! Or, at least... I hope.


	3. Scattered Petals

Saturday

Are you afraid of fire? Because I remember being so terrified of it. One time, I accidentally burned myself while making pancakes. Dad and I used the WRONG oil and wrong pan. The hot oil spilled on me, and I got a nasty second degree burn. I never tried to touch any hot stuff almost ever again.Until today. Mom made me and Rodrick create a tart for Manny because his birthday was coming up. he accidently used the wrong sugar and it tasted really weird. I mean, he didn't really TRY making it. Mom and I had to weigh most of the stuff, and he just mixed his, and then played on his drums the rest of the time while I was stuck upstairs making two pies for Manny. Mom said mine tasted amazing, but... in my opinion, it didn't taste too good. Warm chocolate stuff isn't my thing.

Anyway after that, I cleaned myself up and started to head towards his house. But, guess what? He was waiting at my front door, and WALKED me to his house! We accidently made the mistake of passing Fregley's house, and guess what? He wasn't out. Shocker huh? Anyway, he hasn't been to school for the past week. There were a bunch of red flower petals scattered about his front yard. Maybe his parents planted new flowers? 

It was just me and Rowley hanging out TOGETHER without any distractions! He was finally paying attention to me. He didn't about those other girls at school, nor did he invite that stupid Albert Sandy over. It was just me and him.

Anyway, when we got to Rowley's house, his parents weren't home! So we could do anything we WANTED together. We started by watching some cheesy romance movie about the hanahaki disease, where the girl falls in love with her best friend and gets the disease. She eventually dies because she can't get herself to tell her feelings to her friend, and her friend is dating another girl. The flowers looked so... fake. It was kind of hard to watch, not because of the special effects, but it was just sad. I think I saw Rowley cry a little during it. I don't really blame him. He really doesn't like movies with a lot of vomiting or blood in it. 

He didn't get the disease when he fell in love with that idiot Abigail. Let me just say, He didn't deserve her! He never did! He deserves someone better! Like me! Why can't he just see that?

After that we made these really good chocolate chip cookies. Lately, Rowley's been taking cooking classes and he showed me how to make them. I think that's his elective for the year, but I'm not sure. The cookies were done around midnight, and we had a whole bunch of them. We ate most of them while playing this PG rated game. His dad STILL doesn't let him play PG-13 games because they're too violent, but he managed to sneak in some rated R game and we played it.

Rowley accidentally got hyped up after eating too many cookies. It took me a while to calm him down, because he was literally jumping off the walls. I had to duel him in a pillow fight, so he could get all his energy out. After that, he was calm again. I stashed the cookies in my bag, so I could maybe have a midnight snack. 

Then Rowley and I shared the bed for the night and confessed our love to each other!

Oh my gosh I wish. I had to sleep on the floor for the night, while he got to sleep in his big comfy bed. I wish MY bed was big as that! His carpet was really scratchy, and it was really cold. I mean, I did pack a really crappy sleeping bag, so What do I expect?

Anyway, he's already asleep, It's already 4 in the morning and I should get to bed. Even though I'm not tired. It's kind of weird and awkward when you're the only one awake.

\------------------------------------

Emily gasped awake and started to cough violently into her hands. She didn't feel sick at all, Was it something she ate? I'm not allergic to cookies or pizza... She thought to herself as she ran over to the bathroom crying, trying to cough silently into her hands. Emily's heart violently pounded in her chest. What's happening to me? Fear started to cloud her mind as she locked the door to the bathroom and slid down the door. After her coughing fit finally stopped, she had an urge to look down at her hands. 

She froze in her spot. There were golden flowers. All around her. They were scattered about all over the bathroom floor, and on her pajama's. Emily's heart skipped at beat, her hands started shaking. she hid her hands in her face and started crying

"I have it. This is everything I didn't want..."

"No, no, no no NO! NO!" She cried into her hands. She felt a sharp pain in her chest as she choked out more flower petals. They softly fell on the ground around her. Anyone can get this disease. Your feelings have to be very strong to get it. It can be just as bad as cancer or any other disease. She Felt her heart drop. Her stomach churned in fear.

"Em? Hey are you okay?" She looked up from her stop and started to pick up the flower petals and flushed them down the toilet. Rowley knocked again. "Emily! What's happening?" 

"Umm... Nothing! N-nothing at all!" What a lie. She turned on the sink and washed her hands again. She felt something coming up her throat. More petals. She then coughed up several more petals. She gathered them up and opened the door to the bathroom.

Rowley was waiting outside with a concerned look. Emily stepped out of the bathroom looking really sick and tired. She suddenly hugged him. He gasped in surprise.

"I-I h-haven't... been f-feeling to g-good lately..." she stuttered out.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rowley asked feeling more concerned. Something was WRONG with her and she wasn't telling him.She quickly got off of him and ran to go get her stuff. 

She packed it all up and ran out of the door without saying goodbye, leaving him confused and scared.


	4. Out of Eden

Sunday

I got the stupid hanahaki disease. I didn't want it! I didn't want this to happen to me! Out of all the people in the world to get this, I get it. Maybe if I survive this thing, I can live to tell the tale of how hard and painful it is to go through something as bad as this. But, right now... I don't really have the courage to tell anyone...

Mom got a call from the Jeffersons that I was acting really sick lately. They said that Rowley had heard me throwing up and coughing in the bathroom. I had to lie and say to her that I ate something bad yesterday and that made me feel really sick and I had to go home because of it. She believed me, I hope...

I had to stay in bed for the whole morning. Mom made me chicken noodle soup and wanted me to heal up. I couldn't do anything but lie in bed and draw, and read books. Mom took away my phone from me, so I could get some rest. She thinks I might have a fever or something. I don't...

So, I decided to do a little more research on this... disease. And oh my gosh. It's worse than I thought it would be.

1: A small flower starts to grow in the victim's lungs. Host coughing up small flower petals. It usually ends with coughing fits or sometimes vomiting to get the flowers out of the throat.

2: The flower slowly starts to spread across the lungs making it hard for the host to breathe. Thorns and sharp objects start to scrap their throat making it very painful for the victim to breathe or even talk

3: The flowers spread across the victim's lungs and made it almost impossible to breathe. Not too many people have reached this stage, and if they do they usually die.

So, is this what the poor kid had to go through when he vomited up that rose in sixth grade? Ouch.

This leaves me feeling more scared and paranoid that I will ever be. Maybe I should just get the surgery and be over with it? Should I tell mom or dad? What about Rowley? His parents already see me as a really bad influence even though I do NOTHING wrong to him. What about my other friends at school? Do they even ca-

\--------------------------------------------------------

Emily started to feel herself have another coughing fit. She dropped her journal and grabbed the tissues at the side of the bed and coughed into there. Out came several, beautiful, golden flowers. The same color as Rowley's hair. After coughing after what seemed like several minutes, she decided to throw the tissue and flower petals away.

She almost dropped the tissue in fear. There was blood on the tissue. The flower petals were stained a gorgeous crimson red. Emily felt her chest tighten up in fear. Her mind raced for an explanation on what was happening. She felt something coming up in her stomach. She ran into the restroom, and vomited in the toilet.

She gasped and coughed a few more times before accidentally looking down at the toilet. It was full of blood and petals. Different kinds of petals, red ones, pink ones, and even a blue one. Emily flushed the toilet and trudged to her room.

This is it. This is how I die. In the WORST way possible!

"Emily? Are you okay?" Emily looked behind her and saw her mom standing in the hall looking worried. 

"Y-yeah... I'm fine! I'm feeling SO much better now!" She choked out hoping her mom would buy it. Her mom shot her a confused look. "No, I heard someone vomiting into the toilet."

"That was probably Manny or something. You know what he eats." Emily smiled., looking at his door.

"Well then... if you're okay, I would like you to come with me to the hospital. Your friend Fregley hasn't been feeling too well and he needs somebody to visit him. Me and Rowley's mom agreed to come and visit him". She said adjusting her glasses.

Oh no.

"Um... Actually mom! I don't think I feel so good anymore..." She said, forcing out a cough to try and act sick.

"No, No, No. You already said you're feeling better, and that cough feels very fake. Now come on and get ready.

Emily groaned and walked to her room.

\-----------------------------------------------

I was forced to visit Fregley at the hospital today. I saw Rowley in the room too. It was kind of awkward around him. I had to try and stop myself from having another coughing fit. Mom was already giving me glares and motioned me to go talk to him.

He looked absolutely horrific. He had a bunch of tubes down his mouth. I think he was on life support or something. His mom told me and Rowley that he was in stage 3 of the hanahaki disease. And that made me even MORE terrified of this disease. It must feel so horrible to be hooked up to a million wires while there's a tube down your throat. For a moment, I felt bad for him.

The doctors said that he was planning to get surgery and remove the flowers, so I guess he's fine. We were forced to stay in his room saying nice things to Fregley before he went under the anesthesia. When he did, Mom and I went home.

When we got home, Rodrick came up to mom and complained about seeing golden flowers all over the place. Mom rolled her eyes and said that Manny might've picked some flowers and brought them home.

What do I do now? Rodrick thinks that I might have something to do with this. He can't find out. He's gonna tell mom, then, dad, and then they're gonna know that I have a crush on Rowley. his parents are probably gonna move him to another school because of me. And he's never gonna return my feelings. Wait! He can't because if he's gonna go another school, he's gonna forget all about me.

Oh, no, no, no, I'm overthinking this whole situation. Calm down Emily! It's not that bad! Maybe if you just avoid him than you're gonna be fine! This disease will be gone in no time!

Right...?


	5. Romeo and Cinderella

went back to school today. I tried to act being sick, but mom saw right through the act. She threatened to take me to the doctor because I was "sick" I didn't want to go.to the doctors office. That's probably the worst idea, right now. I can't let anyone know. Not yet.

I wanted to walk with Rowley to school until Rodrick pulled up in his van saying he was gonna take us. He's probably only doing this for more mom bucks. I've stoped caring for mom bucks. Mom usually gives them all to Manny for being "good" even though he's not. Well, there went my time with Rowley. Good job Rodrick.

During the first period, it was hard trying to hide coughs. I couldn't let people think I had the stupid corona virus from last year. I accidentally made a really bad decision to swallow several flower petals during class. I had a really bad coughing fit, and people started screaming "Coronavirus! It's corona time!" To the point where they were up in my face. I had to run to the bathroom to vomit it out. I stayed in that bathroom for the rest of class.

It's not that bad. I... I haven't felt anything sharp come up my throat so, I'm ok right? After that, it seemed really hard to breathe. Holly was in the bathroom too. She somehow heard me choking on my own flower petals. She didn't say anything until I made the mistake of coming out.

\----------------------------------------------

"You have it don't you?" Holly said while applying her lipstick. She looked at Emily through the mirror as Emily stepped out of the stall she was in trying to contain another cough.

"No." Emily said, trying to not sound suspicious. All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach and started to cough again. She saw a bunch of petals fall onto the ground. Holly stared at her in shock.

"What the heck?! She yelled in surprise. Holly ran over to Emily who was on the ground having a horrific coughing attack. She didn't exactly know how to help, so she just patted her on the back comfortingly.

"Do you want me to get the nurse?" Holly asked worriedly. She helped Emily clear the flower petals off the floor and into the trash can. Emily shook her head. She tried to gulp down the tears she felt coming up.

"No... Please no..." she mumbled, not looking at the blonde. "Just don't tell anyone. I can't let anyone know. Especially not HIM."

"Emily! This is a really bad disease, what are you thinking?" Holly cried. "If you don't get surgery or tell your crush you like them, you could die from it! And I don't want to lose you!"

Die. There was that word again. Before Emily could look up at Holly, they heard a harsh knock on the door.

"Emily Heffley and Holly Hills, you get detention for skipping class." Patty said triumphantly. Emily wanted to scream at Patty. It probably wasn't a good idea because she would probably vomit more flower petals instead of getting out a rant.

"Wait no! Patty! I was just helping Emily with something!" Holly said running up to her hoping she could defend Emily. Patty rolled her eyes and wrote down a detention slip for both of them on her clipboard.

"No you weren't. I saw you two go into the girls bathroom at the same time, and I heard you talking while I was walking down the halls. NO you weren't helping her with anything, so you get detention." She handed Holly and Emily their slips. "Have a nice day." She chirped and walked out .

"I will rip your skill out." Holly mumbled under her breath.  
\-----------------------------------

Holly tried to comfort me while I was coughing up flowers on the floor, but Patty decided to burst into the bathroom and make things so much worse. She didn't believe the fact that Holly was trying to help me. She thought we were skipping class and gave us both detention slips. Holly looked like she was gonna cry. I've never seen Holly in detention ever. Usually new people in detention start crying because of how rude the teacher is but, you eventually get used to it.

During lunch, I was trying to talk to Rowley about whatever, and then I saw a group of girls in the distance. They were all giggling and pointing at us. I thought that they were making fun of me until one of the girls came up and a bunch of her friends were behind her. The girl asked him out.

I was ready to jump out of my seat and tell her he's not interested, but Rowley said "He'll think about it." Which probably means no. Anyway, that drove the girl off. She wasn't as excited and happy as before.

I was really MAD that someone was trying to steal HIM away from ME. He didn't talk to me about it the rest of the day for some reason. When I asked him about her, he said he doesn't know. He doesn't want it to end up like what happened with him and Abigail. I asked him if he was scared of getting the disease, and all he said was that, he didn't think that he would get it. If his parents found out, they would get up sugary as soon as possible.

I had detention today, so I wasn't able to walk home with Rowley. But, I didn't really care because mom and dad weren't going to be home until what? Six. I didn't have to tell them. They were at some kind of meeting for their company. But, Rodrick or Manny might snitch on me.. A few minutes after I came in, I saw Holly trudge in after me. She looked like she was about to cry. All she did was lay her head down and maybe, try to sleep the hour away before the detention teacher strolled in and yelled at her to keep her head up.

Detention was horrific for Holly. I remember my first detention. I was scared as hell, now it's nothing.


	6. Fight For Me

(Violence warning)

I should be thankful that my parents actually believed me for once.

Remember the girl who wanted to date Rowley the other day? She somehow found out I like him too! And she wasn’t happy about it at all. Maybe I was too obvious? I mean, she did catch me during detention giving her the death glare. I found out her name was Bailey. So, I don’t have to keep on referring to her as “the girl.” 

So, I was walking over to get lunch at the cafeteria, and then she suddenly pinned me to the wall and started making threats towards me.

\-----------------------------------

“Hey! Ow! What do you want from me?” Emily cried as she was knocked against the wall. She glared at Bailey who was cornering her. She tried shoving her off and trying to go get lunch, but Bailey tugged her jacket.

“Look at me.” Bailey growled into her face. Emily. had to urge to spit into Bailey's face, but couldn’t, almost afraid of what she would do. She tried to stay calm as Bailey hurled insults in her face “I want you to stay AWAY from Rowley. Alright? He’s mine. Not yours. MINE.” 

“Get off of me!” Emily yelled. She tried pushing the other girl off of her, but it was no use. She was about 2x taller than her, and weighed more. 

“Oh hell no you don’t.” She snarled. “If I see you with Rowley again. I will beat your ass up and you won’t see him again. Got that?”

“No.” Emily glared at her. She walked away to the lunch line before she felt her hair being pulled violently. She turned around to see Baily throwing a punch at her gut.. She bent over in pain, and started coughing violently. How thankful she was that no flower petals decided to fly out.

She was then kicked to the ground by Bailey. She could see a crowd of people forming around the two of them. She watched as two of Bailey’s friends decided to join her and kicked her around. She heard tons of insults being thrown by the girls. She could see people pulling out their phones yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!.” 

I have to fight back… Emily thought to herself, trying to get off the ground. She could hear the crowd yelling and screaming. 

“Bitch..” Bailey smirked at her and turned around to high five her two friends. Emily looked up from where she was lying on the ground. She scraped up all the courage she had, got up off the floor and punched her straight in the chest. The crowd was going absolutely insane. 

One of Bailey’s friends tried pulling her hair while screaming “Don’t hit my friend like that! Emily had a little bit of taekwondo experience, so she decided to finally put them to the test..Emily grabbed one of the girls books out of her hand and hit her in the stomach with it several times. The girl winced over in pain, before she could escape, Emily kicked her stomach which sent her crashing onto the floor.

Everyone was filming the four girls now. Emily couldn't care less. Two other girls tried to take her down, but she blocked their punches with the book she was carrying, and smacked them in the face several times before roundhouse kicking the first one, and grabbed the other girl by the throat and pulled out the second girl's hair, before pushing her away.

She watched as the three of them stumbled back in pain and continued her walk to the cafeteria. Emily hears Bailey coming from behind her. She grabbed one of the lunch trays off the counter and slammed it into her face, again the back, on the chest side and legs. She grabbed the pizza off of the table and slammed it into her face. Before hitting her chin, and then kicked her down there. She twisted her arms behind her back and heard Bailey screaming in pain.

Before Emily had the chance to do anymore damage, she was pulled away by the teachers.

\-------------------------------------------------

She said that if she saw me with Rowley, she was gonna beat my ass. She believes that he belongs to her and her ONLY. I couldn't care less because Rowley's probably never gonna go for her because of what she did to him. I tried to stand up for myself and walk away, but she decided that wasn't enough and decides. to throw me to the ground. Two other friends came and started beating and throwing insults at me on the ground. A crowd started to form around us. The three girls thought they were done with me when they didn’t see me try to get off the ground.

Oh how I proved them wrong. I beat the crap out of all the girls. One by one. I saw a bunch of people holding phones and cheering and screaming. It felt nice to be the center of attention for a while. Until, the school's security guards had to drag me out of it.

I got a day of suspension. Dad came to pick me up, and wasn’t too happy about what I did at school until I told him what happened on my side of the story. He suddenly cleared up. Dad said that he was PROUD of me for defending myself.

I don’t get schools. They didn’t suspend Bailey, but they suspended ME. She should be the one getting the punishment! She was the one that decided to pick on me! I just fought back because I was feeling threatened! Why do schools get mad if the person getting bullied fights back?

Mom found out what happened at school. She was kind of mad that I smashed a pizza into someone's head and said that I didn’t have to be so violent. She said that I could've avoided the whole problem if I just ignored her and walked away. I DID try to do that!

Screw you Bailey


	7. For the Flowers Tell me so

It’s been a few, what weeks since I last wrote in this thing? Well a lot of things have passed during it, and I haven’t been updating it because… I’ve been super busy with homework and other school related stuff. I almost caught Manny stealing this from my room the other day.

Where to start...You know that idiot Bailey? You know the one that I beated up for bullying me? The girl who threatened to beat my ass if I were to hang out with Rowley? YES, THAT ONE! She’s with him. They’re dating. 

THEY’RE DATING NOW! I hate her so much! She was barely friends with Rowley, and she’s a bully, why doesn’t he see that she’s not the one for him. She never deserved him! Bailey’s only with him to make ME jealous! They’ve started sitting at the couples table together, and won’t let me tag along. I’ve noticed that whenever I follow them behind on my way to class, the coughing gets worse and worse. It feels like something sharp is lodged in my throat, and I can’t get it out.

Why can’t I be good enough for him? I thought he CARED about me! Would his parents even approve of her? Even writing her name is hard for me.

I’m technically not allowed to hang out with him anymore. Bailey gives me the death glare, and her friends threaten to come beat me up. They usually sit at the couples table and leave me here all alone. Well, until Holly noticed I was sitting alone. She invited me to sit with her and her friend group. It was mostly made out of cheerleaders, and volleyball team members. It took them awhile for them to warm up and talk to me, but eventually they did! 

They recognized me as the girl who beat up Brittany and her friends! I’ve actually never been invited to sit at a table with people for most of my life, and I feel kind of accepted by them. I never knew they would be nice. I guess people do change-

\-------------------------------------------

“Emily? Whatchu writing about?” One of Emily’s friends, Brittany looked over her shoulder to see what she was writing in her journal. Emily gasped and slammed the book shut, and hid it in her bag pack. She scowled at Brittany.

“Nothing, I’m just drawing.” She said biting out of her peanut butter sandwich. Her other friend, Shadow gave her a confused look. “We saw you writing about Rowley in your little diary.” Other girls at the table started giggling and talking amongst themselves, and occasionally glancing at Rowley and Bailey. Emily blushed madly and hid her face in her hands. Holly nudged her on the shoulder playfully.

“Don’t worry. Rowley is that one guy we’ve all had a crush on at least once in our life.” She said. Emily gave her a confused look as she took her hands out of her face. “What?” 

“Remember when he was that adorable chubby kid in 6th grade?” Shadow sang. “Now look at him! He’s changed so much!” All the attention Rowley was getting from the girls started to anger Emily. She tugged on her hair. A bunch of girls giggled. 

“Hey, aren’t you two like, best friends with him?” Another girl asked from across the table. Emily looked over at Rowley, then looked back at her. “Yeah, I guess I am…” She said looking at the couples table sadly. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes just looking at the couple.

“Hmm? What’s wrong…?” Emily suddenly stopped staring at the couple and looked up at Holly who was giving her a concerned look. “I-I’m fine,” She said, brushing her skirt. “It’s just that… Rowley… h-he’s…” Emily could feel tears spilling out of her eyes. She cursed herself for being so sensitive. She tried wiping away the tears with the back of her hand.

“Don’t cry!” Holly said, wrapping Emily in a hug. She glared over at Bailey and Rowley. Bailey noticed Holly glaring at her and gave her the finger. Holly ignored it and continued to comfort her.

“Hey, Hey! Don’t worry... “ Holly said patting Emily on the back. She saw a few more girls coming up to hug her and try to comfort her. She glared at them and mentioned for them to back off. “They’re gonna break up. Bailey’s not that nice of a person. Bryce broke up with her because she was that mean…So, maybe just try to remain friends with Rowley for the time being…” She mentally slapped herself for not being able to give out any good advice.

Emily sniffed and wiped away the rest of her tears. “Thank you…” She whispered as she headed off to the bathroom to wash her face, so she wouldn’t look like a hot mess for the rest of lunch. When she came back, she saw the rest of the group staring worriedly at her.

“So, what’s the deal between you and Rowley?” Shadow asked. 

“We’re best friends, but we kind of drifted apart once he started dating other girls…” Emily said sadly as she put away her lunch. She didn’t feel too hungry after that crying session. The other girls waited for her to go on. “And he’s dating my worst enemy, and I feel left out by him. We haven’t been hanging out too much because of all the threats Bailey gives me, it feels like I can’t even LOOK at him.”

“Just ask him to hang out like you guys normally would.” Holly said. “It’s not that hard. I ask Bryce to hang out with me most of the time!”

“But does he ask to hang out with you?” Emily asked. Holly looked kind of offended. “That’s not important right now. We’re talking about you and Rowley.”

“Emily go!” Shadow said, pointing towards the couples table. They saw Bailey get up from her seat and start walking to the lunch line. “Now’s your chance.” Emily took one look at Rowley, and then another one at Bailey. She took a deep breath and gathered up all the courage to go up and walk to him.

“Hey Rowley!” She sang waving towards him, not daring to look back at the group. Rowley smiled at her.

“What’s up Em?” He said looking up from his phone. Emily glanced over to the lunch line. Good. No sign of Bailey anywhere. “Well, I was wondering… Do you want to hang out at my place later after school?”

“Well… Bailey-” He cut himself off when he saw Emily’s expression. “Actually, sure! That sounds fun. What time do you wanna meet up?”

“Maybe… around 4:00. Alright, I’ll see you later!” She smiled and ran back to her group feeling excited. She flashed a huge smile at the group.

“I told you it wasn’t so hard.” Holly smirked.

.

.

.

.

Emily tapped her pencil impatiently on her desk. She started outside the window, then looked back at the clock. It read 3:56. Rowley should’ve been here by now. She was about to call him up until she heard the doorbell go off. She ran outside of her room and went downstairs. She opened the door and saw Rowley waiting outside. 

“Look who came early.” Emily scoffed. Rowley stifled laughter. “C’mon in. We don’t have all day!”

They went upstairs into her room. Emily made sure to clean it multiple times, just so it wouldn’t look like her it was a mess. She flopped down on her bed and stared at him.

“Your room looks nicer then the last time I came here,” Rowley said, sitting next to her. 

“Thanks, I’ll take that as a complement.” Emily blushed, turning away from him. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she managed to bring herself to speak to him. 

“You know, we haven’t been able to hang out that much…” she said twisting her hair around her finger nervously.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m just really caught up in school work.” he said. 

“Do you need help on it?” Emily suddenly blurted out. Rowley looked surprised. Emily wasn’t the one to get good grades on her work, but he really needed someone to help him. “Sure.”

After a few minutes of working, and procrastinating, she decided to finally ask him the question that had been dwelling on her mind for a while. 

“Rowley?” 

“What’s up Emily?”

“Well, I was thinking, do you really like Bailey?”

“Of course I do! She’s really nice, and kind, and pretty! We had a lot in common too. Is that what you wanted to ask me?”

“N-no… It’s something else…” Emily felt her heart drop in her chest.

“What is it?”

“What if… you knew somebody else liked you, and they told you. Would you date them?” That didn’t come out the way I planned it…

“Hmmm… probably not. I’ve had my eyes set on Bailey for a long time already. I don’t think I’ll be dating anyone else anytime soon. I guess if another person did tell me their feelings, we could just be friends.” Rowley said. Emily felt herself go cold.

“Really…? No one else?”

“Nope. Emily, are you trying to tell me something?" 

". . ."

I thought he cared about me.

"Em?" 

". . . " 

Am I just not good enough for him?

"Emily…?

". . ."

Am I just a bad friend to him? NO! I can't be! I care about him so much...!

"Emily!" Rowley cried, hoping to break Emily out of her trance. "Somethings bothering you, just tell me what it is!"

"I... I'm fine…" Emily said softly. She felt tears running down her eyes. She felt herself start crying. She desperately tried to fight back tears.

"You're crying, Some-" Rowley said before Emily cut him off.

"It's ok. Don't worry about me." She said, trying to choke down a sob.

.

.

.

.

"-And then she started crying out of nowhere in the middle of math homework." Rowley said to his parents, explaining what happened to his parents at dinnertime.

"Why? Did you say something mean to her?" Mr Jefferson said looking up from his newspaper. Rowley shook his head.

"Nope" Rowley said "She asked me about Bailey, and when I told her that I was dating her, she just started crying…" 

"Oh poor girl." Mrs Jefferson said sadly, as she got herself some more water.

"What do you mean?" Rowley asked his parents. His parents exchanged a look of pity and discomfort.

"You'll learn later."

\----------------------------------

I was hanging out with- You know what? I don't even have the energy to write in this anymore.

(A/N ew crappy chapter)


	8. Don't tell anyone about this..

"Emily! Manny! Rodrick! We're going to a restaurant to celebrate Thanksgiving, you guys need to get ready!" Their mom called out.

The three let out a groan. "Mooooooom! I don't wanna goooo!" Manny whined.

"You guys are two young to stay here by yourself, so you're coming with us." Their mom said, putting on her shoes.

"Mom, me and Rodrick are in high school. We should be able to stay here on our own," Emily tried to argue. Rodrick nodded in agreement. "Mom just let me stay here, I won't invite the band over, just don't let us go."

"You guys are being rude. Dad's side of the family invited us to a Thanksgiving party and we promised to go." Mrs. Heffley said, getting more frustrated by the minute. "They didn't have to invite us you know.

Emily let out a long sigh. "Fiiiiine mom..." She climbed upstairs and into her room. Whenever a family member, or just ANYBODY invited them somewhere and they didn't want to go, mom would always pull a "you know, they didn't have to invite us." Which usually worked on Emily, but not Rodrick, or Manny, or even dad some times. She opened the closet and decided to pick out a nice dress.

Ding! Emily heard her phone go off. She dropped the dress she was holding and onto the floor to see who it was.

\--------------------------

Holly: hey wanna hang at my place later? i'm also inviting over shadow and brittany.

Emily: sry. i have to go to a family reunion.

Holly: tell them u dont wanna go 

Emily: im being forced to

Holly: lmao sorry, that must rly suck.

Emily: stop just... no

\--------------------------------------

I could be doing anything else beside this! Emily thought to herself as she put on the dress that she threw on the floor. The dress looked appropriate for this sort of thing. She put on a pair of white socks and a black cardigan before heading downstairs with a phone charger, just in case her family decided to stay for a long time.

"Sissy! We're waiting for you!" Manny yelled as he burst open the door. Emily glared at him. He still calls me sissy after all these years... he never calls Rodrick, Bubby. But then again, he's in second grade...

"I'm coming!" She yelled putting on her shoes. They headed out the door and into the car.

\------------------------------------

"Hello Emma!" Aunt Loretta cried hugging Emily. She desperately tried to break out of her grasp. Why is she always the first one to come?

"My... names not Emma!" Emily gasped as she finally broke free of aunt Loretta's grasp. "It's Emily!" she huffed.

"Sorry about that Ella..." Loretta said, turning to face her mom and dad. They greeted her with very forced enthusiasm. They motioned for Rodrick and Manny to say hello to her. Rodrick tried to protest, but was quickly shut down by dad. He awkwardly gave her a hug.

They waited for a few minutes, talking with aunt Loretta, and greeting the rest of the family while in the waiting area. Emily forgot most of the members, so she whipped her phone out. Her mom suddenly took it away and told her to greet and every one of her aunts and uncles and little cousins.

"Hello Grammy.... Hi uncle Joe.... Hi uncle Larence..." She muttered her relatives unenthusiastically as she saw them walk in through the door. She was forced to have a five minute conversation, and hug them for about ten seconds. Well that's what she felt like she was supposed to do. Rodrick and Manny did the same thing, but Manny got more attention.

Rodrick and Emily watched as all the aunties surrounded him, showing him with complements and presents. She even saw one of her aunties give him a $100 bill.

"But he already has that much money!" Emily said angrily. Rodrick glared at the group.

"Same here Em... He already has so much money, how much more does he need, on top of that, how come WE never get anything?"

Emily nodded in agreement. As soon as Rodrick said that, Aunt Patrica got up from her spot and forcefully greeted them. She pulled out a $10 dollar bill from her pocket and told them to "split it."

Rodrick didn't even try to split it. He hid it in his pocket before Emily even had the chance to get it. It's probably not even worth it... she thought to herself as she watched her mom and dad shower complements over one of the babies at the party.

\---------------------------------

"Hey, want to come with me to get food?" Rodrick asked Emily. She looked up from her spot. "Sure,"

They walked to the food line together. She looked back at the table to see her mom and dad STILL fonding over the babies. She never had the courage to say this, but she felt jealous of all the attention the babies got at the party. Her and Rodrick never got any attention.

"Hey, Rodrick? Is it weird to feel left out?" Emily asked as she grabbed a plate from the stack and placed some fruits on it. She tried to resist eating it.

"Huh? What are you walking about?" He asked, as she stacked a bunch of fries on his plate.

"Mom and dad are usually found over the babies because "Ours isn't like that anymore" and our other relatives give Manny so much attention and forget about us!" Emily said, gripping her plate angrily.

"You forgot that they force us to talk to them, even though they never talk to us." Rodrick pointed out.

"'You're right. Maybe, we would actually LIKE going to these things if they tried to speak to us." She said, walking back to the table.

The reunion was pretty boring. Emily and Rodrick really only had each other for company. Sometimes their parents would force them to talk to their little cousin, or try to make conversation with another one. None of her cousins were her age. They were either way too old, or a baby. Emily particularly didn't like babies because of all the attention they received from their parents, but she still thought they were cute despite the only thing they did was, eat, sleep, poop and cry. Emily was forced to hold one of her relatives' babies when the mom went out to grab food. She could tell the baby DIDN'T like her. It cried and screamed in her face until its mom came back.

"We're going to be leaving soon. Emily? Could you take Manny to the restroom?" Her dad said as he handed Manny over to her. Emily started to feel a cough rise up in her stomach. No, no, no, no! This is the worst possible time! She tried to contain a cough. "Y-yeah sure!" She said as she began walking with Manny to the bathroom.

On the way there, she started to have another coughing attack. This time, it was pretty bad. She felt flower petals fall out of her mouth and onto the ground. She tried to hide the rest of the coughs in her mouth, but failed.

"Sissy? Why are you coughing up flower petals?" Manny asked as he picked one off the ground. Emily firmly grabbed Manny's hand and started walking faster. "Sissy what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She said. As she took him inside the women's bathroom. "Now go, potty so we can get out of here." Manny went inside the stall. "Okay."

Emily started to cough into her hands. She felt more and more petals coming out. She saw different types of colors of flower petals. She tried to hide her coughs as Manny came out of the stall. He asked a bunch of questions on the way back, like "why are you coughing up flower petals," "Are you sick sissy?" Emily ignored it and walked back.

After saying goodbye to everyone, which took about 30 minutes. They finally went home. The drive home was pretty long, because of the traffic. They didn't have to worry about anything, nobody had school.

"Mommy? Why is sissy coughing up flower petals?" Manny asked and suddenly broke the silence. Emily froze in her seat. Did he know? Why does he care?

"Nobody coughs up flower petals, dummy." Rodrick scoffed, making Manny start crying.

"Rodrick Heffley!" His dad boomed from the driver's seat. He looked up from his phone to see his dad glaring at him. "Don't talk to your brother like that."

"I didn't- sorry dad, sorry Manny." He said, not wanting to start a fight with him. Everyone seemed too tired to be fighting anyway. It was finally silent during the rest of the time.

I hope mom doesn't ask me any questions about this... Emily thought as she tried to quietly have another cough.

(Thanks for over 100 views! Please vote and comment if you can!)


	9. Act 1 Finale: Dreams do have a Meaning

(How the patient reacts to the disease: They usually try to hide it from friends and family members. If somebody tries to interact with love interest, they usually get really mad at them, or sometimes even try to fight them.)

(descriptions of murder, blood and death)

I...I had the strangest dream last night. I can remember it so vividly, as if it happened yesterday. I remember reading online that certain dreams have meanings if you think about it, I think this one might be trying to tell me something, but I don't know what.

I'm on a field trip with my friends, I remember being with Holly, Fregley, and Rowley. We were on a bus, and we're talking about stuff. I think the conversation was about flowers, or whatever, I remember the bus suddenly going under this really long tunnel, and descending into the cave. The cave was a beautiful dark purple, I remember it being rocky, and a little dark, but there was some light shining out from the outside. So, we could barely see.

Suddenly, I'm kicked off of the bus, and Bailey is suddenly beside me. I decided to explore father into the cave, while she's following me, while insulting me about liking Rowley, and being his friend. I start getting really mad and trying to get her to stop talking, but she doesn't. I decided that it was enough and suddenly, I'm holding a knife within my hand.. I can see myself walking towards her, then stabbing her in the chest several times. Blood spews out everywhere. I can hear her screaming. I can't control myself. When I finally stopped, I could gain control of myself again. I looked at the body in disgust. I almost vomited at the sight of it. Yeah, I didn't like her, but was killing her necessary? 

I remember trying to hide the body in fear that I would get caught. I hid it somewhere behind a bunch of rocks. Her bloody chest leaves a trail of blood. And after I'm done with the body, flowers start growing from the blood. I bent down and picked one up. Suddenly, My hand starts feeling itchy. The flower wasn't poison ivy in any way. It was the golden flowers, like the ones I cough up. I watched in fear as I saw a small flower start growing out of my right hand. I remember screaming in fear and trying to rip it out, I couldn't. Pulling out the flower felt like pulling out my own skin so, when I ripped out a part of it, I felt like I was pulling my own hand off.

It hurt like hell. I didn't want to feel it anymore, so I decided to try and leave it alone, hoping it might fall out. It didn't. My hand started to itch even more, I saw several more flowers start growing out. I was freaking out at this point. I start running away from the blood trail while watching the flowers start falling out of my right hand.

I started to run deeper into the cave, hoping I could get away from whatever that was. The dark purple cave starts slowly transforming into a beautiful golden flower forest. The trees were big golden flowers that covered the sky above me. It started to glow a dark golden color, then suddenly brightened up. It felt very relaxing. I walked through the forest for a little bit before the flowers started growing bigger and bigger as I walked through. I can hear something behind me. I remember turning around and the path behind me is suddenly GONE. It's covered up by a bunch of sharp vines, blocking me from going through. 

I freak out, and try to climb my way back, knowing that something bad might be trying to trap me back here, but I can't. The vines suddenly start to grow thorns. I accidentally slashed my arm on one of the thorns, causing it to bleed. It hurts like hell, and then suddenly, a bunch of golden flowers start growing out of the wound and blooming on my skin. It causes me to freak out even more. 

The weirdest part was that I heard my best friend Rowley, calling out to me through the tunnel. He was saying stuff like "Don't freak out... It's going to be ok. Just come to me, and I will help you." something along those lines. I was dumb enough to listen to what he was saying and decided to follow the voice. The vines behind me started to grow, blocking the path from which I came from. The tunnel of flowers starts getting smaller and smaller. There was a light at the end of it, I could see his silhouette at the end of it, reaching out to me. The tunnel starts getting so small, that I have to crawl on my stomach, which damages the golden dress I was wearing. Suddenly, the light fades out, and I feel myself dropping into a pit.

Who knows how long it lasted, it was dark, cold and lonely. I remember my friends calling me out, and trying to reach out to me, but whenever I grabbed their hand, it went straight through. Then, the flowers on my bloodied hands and gash start growing even more. They start spreading across my arms and onto my chest, making my skin itch even more. I can't stop it. It hurt. Suddenly, the vision in my left eye starts to fade. I felt a huge throbbing pain start coming out of it, as if something was growing. I started crying, it hurt even more than the ones on my arm and chest. 

I suddenly felt my fall being cushioned by... out of all things, a bed. One that had a pool of flowers, as if somebody died, and their body (I don't know how to write this down.) instead of turning into dust, (Like how Thanos turned Spiderman into dust) it turned into a bunch of petals. I hear my mom and dad's voices around me. They sound very sad, they were talking about how somebody just DIED. Were they talking about my brothers, or... me?

The room decides to close in on me. Instead of the walls coming closer, flowers start to grow out and come towards me. I scream, and jump off my spot, and start running. I'm not sure how far I ran until I heard Rowley crying, so I followed his voice. I found him crying on a patch of golden flowers. He was crying and holding a book in his hands along with a note. He starts reading the note and crying even harder. I tried to hug him from behind, but before I could...

A vine decides to wrap around my left arm, making it impossible for me to move. The vines started to grow thorns which pierce my skin and make it bleed. The blood leaves a bunch of flowers on my skin, making it itchy. My skin started to burn. I tried screaming out to somebody, mom, dad ANYONE. Suddenly Rowley is gone. I don't see him anywhere. The vines started to take hold of my legs and decided to grow thorns. It hurt. I wanted to die right then and there, but I couldn't. Suddenly, I'm being held against my will by a plant, I try struggling but it hurts to move because my legs and arms are throbbing. I suddenly saw a flower start growing towards me, and the last thing I saw was one of those flowers (vines?) wrap around my throat.

Then I woke up. It was so scary and realistic... I hope that it's not trying to tell me something... 

Right?

\----------------------------

Emily let out a deep sigh and put away her journal. She flopped back into her bed and stared up at the ceiling Thank you god, it's not real. Thank God it's not real. THANK YOU GOD ITS NOT REAL. Emily tried to go back to sleep. but her dad decided to burst into the room and wake her up.

"Emily!" He yells and threw her cover off the bed. Emily gasped and jumped up a little in bed. "It's already almost 10:30. You need to be up and running!" He sounded angry. 

"But dad... it's too early and plus, it's a weekend too !" Emily complained and threw the covers back onto herself. Her dad wasn't taking any of it. He started clapping his hand really loudly in her face. 

"Up! Up! Up!" He said, clapping his hands. "We have a long day ahead of us." Emily decided to get up out of bed. Whenever dad decided to wake her up early, it usually meant that he was planning to take them out to a cheap theme park, or whatever. She decided that she decided she was too tired to argue with him and decided to get up and just go downstairs.

"What the...?" She muttered as she saw her bed. It was accidentally stained blood, and onto her nightgown. She suddenly felt a horrible cramp in her stomach. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! ANYTHING! ANYTHING BUT THIS! Why NOW out of all times?! She mentally screamed as she ran into the bathroom. Her left shoulder started to feel really itchy for some reason. She started to scratch at it aggressively before it started to bleed. A rash started to form. 

Don't pick it, just stay calm Emily tried to remind herself as she put lotion on it.

A few minutes later she came out, feeling a little more cleaner than usual. She smiled at herself confidently in the mirror before changing her stained nightgown into something new. Maybe a cute blue dress. She brushed her teeth and combed her hair before heading downstairs.

"The princess is finally awake." Rodrick stated sarcastically as he saw his sister walking down the stairs. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and glared at him. "Mom says we're having a family meeting after breakfast."Emily sighed. Family meetings were always about something serious. 

"What does she want?" Emily asked as she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth. Rodrick shrugged. "I dunno. Something about flower petals being scattered everywhere." Emily almost choked on her food. "F-flower petals?" She asked nervously.

"Do you have something to do with this?" He asked, getting out of his seat and throwing the plate into the sink for his mom to wash it. Emily shook her head. Crap! Do I really cough that much?

A few minutes later, Emily finished her food and threw her plate into the sink. She coughed into her hands and then walked into the living room. Her whole family was there waiting for her. 

\--------------------------------

Mom questioned me, and my siblings about the flower petals. She told us she's been seeing everywhere lately, in the car, kitchen, bedroom, and living room. She told us she was tired of it, and that whoever was scattering flower petals wasn't being funny. Rodrick was kicked out of the competition because he honestly wants nothing to do with flowers in any way, but he stayed for all the drama that was probably coming along with it.

Then she started to question Manny. He was more likely a verdict because sometimes during the afternoon or after school, he would pick flowers and give them to mom. The flowers were usually dandelions, usually the ones that haven't bloomed into the fluff balls that it's known for. He got out of the conversation by saying, "I'm only seven!" Mom may or may not believe him... 

Mom didn't question dad. She knew that he wasn't the type of guy to scatter flower petals all over the place so she skipped him and went on to ME.

It became awkward and SO nerve racking. She started questioning me about my crushes, and if I've been feeling, ok. I told her that I didn't have a crush and I didn't NEED her to worry about me! She started asking me questions, like if I'm coughing up blood, or petals. I've tried to dodge them as best as I can. She finally gave up when I didn't tell her any information about what I'm going through. I, kind of lied my way through this. Maybe I should tell somebody before it gets so much wor-

\---------------------------------

Emily felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder. She clutched her shoulder hoping for it to go away. She felt something burst out of the skin and open up. She started crying, and screaming in pain. More started bursting out. Emily felt her skin ripping and tearing at the seams. She clenched her shoulder and just tried to hope for the pain to pass. It eventually did. 

Emily sobbed quietly in her bed while grabbing her shoulder in pain. She never felt anything as bad as that. It felt like something was growing out of her skin. Emily was too afraid to look at what it was, but the robbing pain in her arm. She gritted her teeth, and turned her at her shoulder.

There was a patch of flowers. Growing out of it. Emily started to cry in fear. This, this is just a dream! Flowers don't grow on your shoulder! She thought to herself, trying to calm down. She pinched herself several times, trying to help herself wake up, but only to realize she was awake. 

She dropped the journal on the ground and held her left shoulder, and walked to the mirror to see if she was hallucinating out of fear. It was real. After a few minutes, the pain went away, leaving a small patch of flowers on her skin. Emily walked over to the bathroom and tried to clean out the blood that surrounded it. It hurt to move the flowers from their place. She felt as if she was pulling out her own skin as she cleaned it out. She tried pulling it, but her shoulder started to throb again. 

Emily put on a long sleeve shirt and a jacket, hoping nobody would be able to see it. It was so hot outside, and wearing a jacket is the LAST thing you want to wear on, a nice sunny day. She put on her shoes and started to walk out of the house.

Ding!

Emily took her phone out of her pocket and saw that she had a message from Rowley. She smiled at it, and decided to text him back.

She froze in her spot as she read the message.

"Do you have hanahaki disease? Whenever you come over to my house, a bunch of flower petals start appearing all over the place."

Emily nervously typed back, I can't let him know. I can't let anyone know about this...

"No I don't. I'm not sure why there are so many flower petals around your house. I think it's a ghost. Spooky right?" 

"I'm pretty sure it isn't. Whenever I go to your house, there's always a bunch of flowers all over your room and in the bathroom. I can tell something is wrong. Please just tell me. I don't want you to go through this alone."

He knows.

Emily put away her phone in her jacket pocket. And continued walking looking at the floor. Her heart started to race in her chest. She heard her phone start buzzing in her jacket pocket. She didn't want to look at it, she couldn't care too.

When Emily got home, she rushed upstairs to her room and threw her jacket off. She put on a short sleeved shirt and examined the flower patch on her shoulder. She remembered learning about how if you have the hanahaki disease, you start coughing up flowers, not GROWING flowers!

Emily pulled out her phone and started to search up on the internet what was going on with her. She knew that if she told her family about the disease, they would push her into getting surgery, which would lead to her losing her feelings for Rowely. She couldn't let that happen. 

After a few minutes, she finally found an answer to why she was suddenly growing flower patches on her skin.

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If somebody with the hanahaki disease starts growing flowers on their skin, that means that the disease is starting to spread at an alarming rate. Or, it's starting to spread faster than s normal case. It usually means that the person you love doesn't love you back, or they might have a partner and it's making you jealous. The disease reacts to this by growing the jealousy out, by flowers. Normal hanahaki cases don't involve hosts growing flowers out of their skin. There have only been 10 cases of this, and none of them survive.

If flowers start growing out of your skin, DO NOT PICK THEM. Picking them will cause damage to the skin and worsen it. There are multiple medications if you start seeing something like this. It will slow the growth rate of flower, but won't stop them completely. But, the best you can do, is probably get the surgery before it's too late.

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Is this it? Am I going to die?

No...no! I told myself that I would keep fighting against it! For me, and for Rowley. I won't stop until it goes away. I've told myself that I would win against it, and live to tell the tale.

But if I do die, I'll die in the most beautiful way possible. Surrounded by golden flowers, and my love for him.  
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